


Gone With The River Flow

by PeriPeriwinkle



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drowning, Fluff and Smut, Illustrated, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, Near Death, Non-Human Genitalia, Oral Sex, Slow Build, merman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 02:10:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6101341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeriPeriwinkle/pseuds/PeriPeriwinkle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dragged down a river just to later be saved by a couple of friends, Bull quickly finds himself more than just a bit curious about the weird man that lives in the river, up on the mountains... and it seems the feeling is mutual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gone With The River Flow

**Author's Note:**

> Art commissioned by the incredibly talented (and patient) [koutou](http://sometrashland.tumblr.com/)!!! Thank you so much again, I love it so, so much ; 3 ;
> 
> Also! Everyone is human in this AU - except ofc for Dorian. I didn't make it obvious, but I hope the lack of mention of horns is a good hint from the beginning.
> 
> (P.S.: I headcanon mermen having dolhpin-like dicks, thus the tag u can see up there. You can find pics online if youre having a hard time imagining how they must look :x)

It all happened too fast.

One moment, Bull was inside the kayak, screaming at Krem to turn the boat, to _look out, up ahead_ , _ **careful**_ , and the next he was tumbling into the water.

In hindsight, he should’ve stayed home. He’d seen the rain forecast, but there was only a fifty-fifty chance so he didn’t mind it much; he’d scheduled the day out in the mountains with his boys for months, and postponing it again, especially this weekend when the sun was as high in the sky as it was, would only make it seem like another badly thought-of excuse.

As soon as they were in the water, though, the sun vanished behind a grey cloud in minutes, and not a half hour later the wind picked up in earnest, until thick, cold rain was pouring down in sheets.

Stitches, Grim, Skinner and Rocky managed to stop their own kayak soon after the waters became too wild to tame, but Krem, Bull and Dalish were dragged on relentlessly, the kayak completely out of control. The boulder that they hit, the one that threw Bull overboard, was coming sooner or later.

His head broke the surface in seconds that dragged out to what felt like minutes. He could hear Krem screaming under the roaring thunder of the storm, Dalish holding him back by the shoulders while attempting to keep them both up and inside the kayak, arms wrapped under his armpits, face twisted with terror. The kayak, however, seemed to be stranded between the boulders, not too far from the shore. Close enough for them to step down to safety, Bull noted. _Good_ , he thought, pulling on the tag of his safety vest before going under again.

His feet managed to touch the mossy bottom of the river and the vest kept him mostly afloat, but the rocks proved too slippery, the algae that tangled in between his feet sending him tumbling back every single time, dragged with the current as if he weighed nothing. His hands scrambled for the rocks, but there weren’t many to begin with, and he only had a few moments of clear vision to spot them before water covered his single eye and filled his mouth, pulling his eyepatch down over his cheek and blinding and gagging him for several seconds at a time. He kept fighting though, thinking of Krem, of the look on his face as he was forced to watch his chief, _his best friend,_ be taken by the current lest both of them drowned. How willing the ‘Vint was to just jump mindlessly in the water that exact second and drag Bull back with whatever means he had, to save Bull like Bull had once saved him.

He knew it was foolish though; Krem would’ve dived to his death. It was in Bull’s hands now to survive this, on his own, to drag himself out of the water and go back to his boys and then laugh about it in a bar like everything else they did. _Hey, remember that one time I nearly drowned after falling from a kayak in a fucking storm? Good times._

After what seemed like hours but in reality were just a few minutes, of trying to remain above the surface and breathe in as much as possible before inevitably being deprived of air again, Bull heard a loud rumbling sound underwater that overpowered even the constant pitter-patter of the raindrops and the crackle of the lightning in the sky. It made his body, already frigid from the river’s low temperatures, run even colder with fear. He pushed up to break the surface, his left knee aching fiercely, and looked ahead, finding exactly what he most feared: _a waterfall_.

Bull couldn’t tell how big it was from his point of view, but panic and adrenaline overwhelmed his body, thinking of the worst. He shook his arms, trying to push himself back, then stretched to reach the muddy edges of the river and hold on to something, _anything._ When his hands pulled tufts of grass by the roots and the ground proved too wet to keep solid, he attempted digging the heels of his feet into the sandy bank beneath him, but the closer he got, the stronger the pull, and that didn’t do anything either. It didn’t take an expert to see that he wouldn’t be able to avoid the fall.

 _It is to be_ , he thought, willing his mind to stifle the panic, which wasn’t helping him think straight, and let it go blank. With a final gulp of breath, he emptied his mind, dove underwater as much as possible with his life vest still on, and swam towards the waterfall instead of against it.

A rock worked as leverage and he pushed himself off the ledge of the river, off the waterfall, pointing his feet down towards the water, and he prayed. He prayed to Koslun for the bottom to be deep enough, for his body to have lunged itself far enough to avoid any sharp rocks, for the impact not to break both his legs in the fall.

He fell, fell, fell, wind and water hitting his face relentlessly and pulling his eyepatch up, where it tangled around his ear and fluttered against the wind, until his body broke the surface below.

And then, nothing.

\---

_One, two, three, four, five, six._

“...you don’t think he _just_ lost these fingers, do you, Felix?”

_Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve._

“Of course not, Dorian. Please don’t distract me. I need to keep count here.”

_Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Air._

“ _Wait_ , Felix, look, I think he’s...”

Bull gasped out, choking on the liquid still sloshing in his lungs, then quickly turned on his side and coughed it all out, his airways burning and his chest spasming violently as he expelled the water he inhaled after passing out. He hurt all over, but nothing hurt more than the leg of his bum knee; it ached something fierce, and he doubted it’d support his body weight if he tried standing up.

So he didn’t. Bull’s head swam and he felt dizzy from both the lack of oxygen and the intake of too much oxygen too fast, so he flopped back down on what he realized _quite_ happily, given the brush of his fingertips, was damp grass instead of cold river water. He breathed in, and out, gulping air like he hadn’t ever noticed how sweet it felt to have just _so much_ of it before. Being away from water never felt so damn good. At least his legs didn’t seem to be broken or fractured, just hurting all over. That was relieving.

“Hey there, man. Glad to have you back in the world of the living. How are you feeling?”

Bull’s mind worked slowly, but he recognized a Tevinter accent if he ever heard one. First thing he thought of was _Krem_ , but no, that voice was too deep to be his. He opened his lone eye, his foggy brain noticing that the rain had almost completely let up, only a light drizzle dampening his cheeks, and there were two thoroughly soaked men leaning over him and carefully watching his face, almost as if not to spook him. Both had dark bronze skin, and the man he supposed to be the Vint had closely shaved brown hair and brown eyes.

The other man, however, was _magnificent_.

He had grey-blue eyes, which seemed to shine like diamonds, and short black hair, closely shaved on the sides. His face was smooth, and his dark skin seemed to almost _glisten_ , like a thin layer of water clung to him at all times. And his ears... they looked like... fish fins?

Was he _hallucinating_?

“Sir? Can you hear us?” The fish-eared man whispered, and Bull felt something slimy and cold touching his chest over his shirt, so he looked down almost on instinct. A hand, masculine yet delicate, with manicured short nails and fingers connected together by a thin, blue coloured ebb twitched minutely, following the weak rhythm of his heart, and Bull sighed out, feeling himself shiver down to his bones.

“I think... I need another nap,” he rasped before promptly passing out again.

\---

Next time Bull woke up, he was definitely warmer, and a lot dryer.

He looked up, watching the wooden ceiling of wherever he was, like it could give him all of life's answers, then, slowly, he looked around. He was in a wooden cabin, that was clear, and a small fireplace roared with life across the room.

Leaning over the window next to the bed, though, was the odd fish-eared man.

“Oh,” he exclaimed, looking at Bull and giving him a small smile. “You’re awake. Good. Let me go fetch Felix.”

Bull grunted in reply, and the man nodded, as if that was a satisfactory answer, and swiftly disappeared behind the wall. Bull faintly heard a splashing sound coming from where the man was a second ago, but he paid it no mind, because as he slowly regained consciousness, he began recalling the previous events.

The storm. The boulder. The river. The waterfall.

And the men who saved his life.

The door opened just as he was sitting up, and the ‘Vint he’d seen earlier pushed his way in with a tray of food in his hands. It smelled deliciously like soup and fresh bread, and Bull noted with a grunt just how hungry he was, after all that physical exertion from... well, _almost dying_.

“I’m Felix,” the man supplied when Bull made no sign that he was going to say anything. He handed him the tray, which Bull balanced across his thighs, immediately grabbing a slice of bread and stuffing it in his mouth. _Yes_ , he thought, humming. _Definitely delicious._ “And you’ve met Dorian, I suppose.”

“Hardly,” came a voice from the windowsill, and Bull choked, startled, Felix quickly stepping up to help him hold on to the tray. The fish-man, Dorian, looked apologetic, but continued as if nothing happened. “I barely said ten words to the man, you can’t really call that a proper introduction, my dear friend.”

“‘Course not,” Felix snorted, shaking his head, and sat on the bed closer to the window with a tired sigh, at what Bull noticed was at a fairly polite distance from him. “We saw you were wearing a life coat over your clothes. Smart. Dorian figures it saved your life. Oh!” The man exclaimed, shoving a hand in his pocket and fishing out Bull’s eyepatch, the ornate metal a bit twisted but the black strap around it looking intact. “This is yours, I believe.”

Bull nodded, mutely, not knowing what to say, so instead he put the cold eyepatch back on his face, fixing the metal over his scar and looking back down at the food on his lap, feeling at a loss for some reason, the exhaustion settling deep in his bones and filling his mind with a thick fog. He settled on grabbing yet another slice of the warm bread, dipping it into the soup and munching it slowly, trying to dissipate the fog and figure things out. From the corner of his eye, Bull watched as Dorian raised a single manicured brow and opened his mouth to say something, but Felix shot him a glare capable of melting ice caps. He closed his lips quite unhappily and pouted, resting his head on his palm, elbow propped up.

Bull breathed, in and out, and focused on that. On the food of his mouth, the people around him, the air in his lungs. On being _alive_.

“What happened?” He asked, finally, voice rough and low, and he looked to both men for answers. Felix sighed again and placed a hand against Bull’s bare shoulder. Comforting. Reassuring.

“Dorian heard something falling from the waterfall and followed the sound. He found you floating, belly up, a few meters away from it. You weren’t breathing and your heartbeat was very weak. He pulled you to the shore and called me. The drop is just a few meters away from this cabin, not too far, so I got there fairly quickly.”

Bull nodded, eating a spoonful of soup before replying. “You a doctor or somethin’?”

“I’m a mathematician actually, but I know my fair share of first aid, unlike Dorian.” The man in question huffed, but offered no retort, so Felix grinned and continued. “I gave you a cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth for about a minute or two, and that’s when you woke up.”

“And then you passed out again, naturally,” Dorian quipped in, adjusting himself on the window, and Felix rolled his eyes. “So we brought you here. And we got you out of your wet clothes, too, hope you don’t mind.”

Bull looked down at his lap, noting just now that he was only wearing his underpants, still damp and clinging to his skin, not leaving much to the imagination. “‘Course not.” He said, shrugging, and almost as an afterthought added, “Thank you. Truly. The life jacket didn’t save my life, you two did.”

Dorian shook his head, his slightly annoyed and uninterested expression melting down to something more _genuine_. “We’re just glad you’re ok,” he said, smiling warmly. Like that, the man looked several years younger, and fleetingly, Bull though he seemed a lot more _human_ , too. It made something uncomfortable stir inside Bull’s chest.

Instead of focusing on it, though, he focused back on the soup, and ate.

\---

An hour later, Bull managed to find a phone number online and call the lodge he was staying at with the Chargers, and soon enough he was talking to Krem, who sounded breathless, like he’d rushed down to the reception as soon as he was told who was on the phone.

“You better not fucking scare me like that again, chief,” he snapped, breathless, sounding angry but also shaky, as if he’d been crying and was trying his hardest not to break down again. Bull bit his lip and nodded, even if no one could see it.

“I promise, Krem. The guy who helped me is taking me back to the lodge in the morning, since we can’t drive any cars around this parts and my knee really can’t handle any walking right now. But you stay put right where you are, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow, as soon as possible, and then we can all go back home. Together.”

“Yeah,” Krem breathed out, sounding relieved, glad, tired, all at once. “Yeah, okay. That sounds reasonable. Rest well, chief, and for the love of Andraste, _please_ , try not to get in trouble while I’m not there to keep an eye on you, you fucking hear me?” Bull snorted, but agreed in the most condescending tone he could muster, which just made Krem huff out, half-annoyed, half just faking it for the heck of it. “I’ll see you then, chief,” Krem said, letting emotion seep into his voice, and hung up.

Bull placed the phone down on the couch, a small grin across his lips, and stretched his still aching legs on the floor of what he had quickly realized wasn't, in fact, a _small_ wooden cabin.

The living room he was in was luxurious beyond measure; the furniture, walls and floors were made of oak wood, and there was a _freaking artificial lake_ in it, which connected to an also artificial river than ran around the house through a gentle waterfall in the lake. Crystalline water hit the smooth, carefully placed rocks below and gave a very soothing, nature-y sound to the whole place.

If anyone had ever tried to describe the room to Bull, he would've immediately thought the whole thing ridiculous, impossible even, but _seeing_ it was a whole other deal. The leather couch he was lounging on was shaped in a half circle, a black, round fireplace sitting before it, right in the middle of the room. The lake, a few feet ahead, was neatly surrounded by grey boulders and covered about half of the living room, which seemed to have been architected around it, like someone just placed the entire house atop where the lake was. It felt very zen and rustic, giving it an almost overwhelmingly cosy sensation, and Bull felt like he could easily nap there and wake up feeling one-hundred percent invigorated.

Felix had politely asked Bull to stay the night, which he didn’t exactly _enjoy_ , no matter how beautiful or homey it felt, since something under his skin itched to see Krem as soon as possible again, his desperate and frightened expression from the last time they’d seen each other branded onto the back of his mind. There wasn’t much to be done, though; the house was located on a much too dense part of the forest, making it impossible for cars to wander through. Felix told him that he usually enjoyed the pleasant thirty-minute trek by foot the cabin inevitably demanded, although he had to agree that it wasn’t exactly ideal in case of emergencies. “Case in point,” he’d said, gesturing to Bull’s bum knee, which was still too weak to hold his massive weight after his near-death drop. Bull had only been able to walk to the couch by hanging on tightly to Felix’s shoulder, and the smaller man had clearly struggled, which left him the question of how exactly he’d managed to not only carry him all the way to the cabin, but also place him atop the bed he’d slept in.

His wandering thoughts came to a sudden halt by a noise coming from the lake, and he watched with a raised brow as the fish-eared man – Dorian, if he recalled correctly – emerged through the waterfall, shortly breaking its pristine curtain-like surface to raise himself onto the rocks below. He looked almost ethereal like that, illuminated by the ceiling chandelier, naked skin glistening and his short black hair plastered to his face and forehead.

“How’re you feeling?” He asked, combing his hair back with his fingers before settling down on the rocks like they were cosy little pillows instead of, well, _rocks_ , and Bull watched him, carefully, finally taking in everything about the man that he hadn’t before.

“You were on the water, outside the bedroom. That’s why you were perched on the window instead of inside, with me and Felix,” he said, and Dorian nodded, his small smile stretching wider, sharper, almost... _dangerous_. He pulled himself away from the waterfall, revealing his lower torso, and Bull held his breath at the sight of _gills_ , his whole body tensing as Dorian practically slithered through the lake like a snake, a purple tail pushing against the water with ease. He was a _merman_.

“You’re very observant,” Dorian grinned, resting his arms on the edge of the lake. “I imagine I should be a little more worried for having someone beyond Felix knowing about my existence, but I figured you already knew there was something odd about me at this point. My fins aren’t exactly... subtle.”

“You could’ve just hid until I left,” Bull said, arranging himself on the couch to hide how tense he was, and knowing he was doing a pisspoor job of it. Krem would be disappointed. “I probably wouldn’t have asked about you if you didn’t appear to say your heartfelt goodbyes in the morning.”

Dorian chuckled, and the sound sent a shiver straight through Bull. “Perhaps,” Dorian whispered, looking at Bull through his lashes, and _holy shit_ , everything he’d read about mermen and mermaids were most definitely true. This level of beauty was not natural, at least not by human standards, not in any way, shape _or_ form. “But I must say, you got me very intrigued. I’ve seen a handful of people diving down that waterfall through the few years I’ve lived in this forest, but you’re the first to ever survive the drop.”

That made Bull pause. The drop _was_ quite high, but the way Dorian said it made him think that he was a very lucky and sturdy son of a bitch. He hummed, thumbing on the worse of his scarred knee and remembering all the times he’d nearly died throughout the years. “I guess it just wasn’t my time yet,” he said, frowning slightly at the pain, and Dorian lifted himself on his forearms, watching Bull’s hand carefully.

“The gods certainly seem to have favoured your life many times before, if your scars are anything to go by,” Dorian noted with a hint of amusement and curiosity, pulling his upper torso off the water, and Bull took that opportunity to look at the merman blatantly, now he was that much closer and not shrouded by water. He had toned arms and chest, and four slits for gills on each side, settled in between his ribs. His abs looked especially noticeable under his moist skin, which looked human but for the obvious lack of body hair and the almost slimy sheen under a certain light, and Bull thought, idly, that he was the most gorgeous man he’d ever laid eyes on. The end of his tail flowed briefly on the water’s surface before flicking off behind him as Dorian seemed to study the much larger man before him not unlike how Bull was watching him in return.

“This lake doubles as a hot tub,” Dorian said, throwing his head back an inch, beckoning Bull closer. “Come, I believe I can help you alleviate some of the pain in your leg.”

“You tryin’ to lure me in, merman?” Bull sneered, keeping his tone light but his face serious. If all that he’d heard of the folkloric creatures held any truth whatsoever, he should do well not to trust him. Dorian, however, sighed, slumping his shoulders and looking up at Bull, seemingly annoyed.

“You believe every childish fairy tale book you read, my good man?” He asked, almost sounding hurt, but before Bull could reply he shook his head, water droplets flying off his face. “No, that is unfair of me, do forgive me. If you hear all your life that we’re dangerous, murderous creatures, it is a lot of me to ask you to trust me blindingly this way.”

“You did save my life, though,” Bull shrugged. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“No offense taken. If it makes you feel any better, most of us _are_ like that. I’m the exception amongst my kind, which is why I live on my own nowadays.”

“Uh, not exactly helping your case here,” Bull said, raising a brow and making Dorian laugh, but even so he pushed himself off the couch and limped towards the lake.

“True, you got me there,” he replied, patiently waiting for Bull to literally hop on one foot across the living room, but once Bull got to the edge, he hesitated, leaning on his right leg as he wondered _how_ exactly he was supposed to lower himself to the lake. “Here, let me assist you,” Dorian offered once he saw the man’s hesitation, pulling himself out of the lake and pushing his body up on his tail, getting nearly as tall as the man himself. He held Bull under his armpits to support his weight, then slowly lowered them both, almost as if Bull weighed nothing at all.

With a lot of manoeuvring and grunting, Bull sat inside the lake, pleased to note that the water was not too warm and that the edges of the lake, indeed, blew hot air bubbles, which felt very pleasant on the small of his back. He then peeked, out of the corner of his eye, at Dorian’s lower torso, purple with blue highlights that shone as he moved about, the scales merging themselves with the skin on his hips as if they were one of the same.

“Felix initially installed these airways just to work as the filtering and oxygenation system,” Dorian explained without prompt, dipping back into the lake with an effortlessness and grace that made Bull smile, “and then he figured he could have the best of both worlds. He turned the whole system into a hybrid, making it into a relaxing little getaway inside his relaxing little getaway. I personally think it was a _great_ idea.”

Bull hummed, watching as Dorian glided through the water and settled in front of him, hands coming up to brush at his scarred knee under the water. The merman kept his eyes focused and pressed his fingers, gently at first, then just a bit harder, first just moving around to feel the injuries and then pressing down on all the right spots. Bull grunted with pleasure, lolling his head back and sliding down a little on his seat, hands tightening on the stone under the water lest he accidentally submerged himself, which he _definitely_ didn’t want. Bull decided he’d be fairly ok if he didn’t dive into any waters that went anywhere above his chest level, at least for a few years, and no one could blame him for it.

Dorian chuckled, rubbing his thumb up along the curve of the knee and down his calf lovingly. “Glad to see my ministrations are effective,” he said, and Bull hummed from where he sat, nearly melting into the water. Soon, the ache had subsided enough to get him to truly relax, and Dorian proceeded to rub the flat of his palm up to Bull’s thigh, then all the way down to his ankle, fingers pressing here and there almost curiously. Bull guessed he must really have a thing for legs, considering he didn’t have any. “This ok?” Dorian asked shyly, and Bull nodded, smiling down at him, a hint of a blush painting the merman’s cheeks. “You know, I never got your name, handsome stranger.”

“It’s Bull,” he said, voice low and husky. Fleetingly, Bull regretted not having the stamina to remain awake, especially after such sweet ministrations, because by the looks Dorian was giving him Bull knew he was more than willing to demonstrate _exactly_ how talented these wandering fingers could really be. “Friends call me The Iron Bull because I’m tough as fuck to break. As you could see first-hand today.”

Dorian laughed, the sound almost sensual, and Bull felt himself shiver. “Oh, I believe your friends just never thought about _how_ to bend and break you, exactly. The fun way, of course.” He added, hands sliding up and resting on each of Bull’s inner thighs, rubbing and teasing, dangerously close to the edge of his white briefs. Dorian's eyes hungrily looked down at Bull’s length, where he could see he was half-hard – hell, anyone in a hundred foot radius could see that, _why did I have to wear white briefs today of all days_ – and then back up, pupils wide and inviting and very, _very_ tempting.

“Some of them have,” Bull grinned, breathing out shakily and resting a massive hand over Dorian’s shoulder. The merman nearly purred under the touch, rubbing his cold cheek against Bull’s knuckles. “And it was really fun indeed.”

“Hmmm... mind sharing some of that fun?” Dorian looked up from under his lashes suggestively, and if Bull wasn’t halfway gone to dreamland he would've taken Dorian’s suggestion in a heartbeat. _A merman_ was _seducing_ Bull. _And you’re turning him down!_ _Fucking hell, Bull_ , a tiny voice growled on the back of his mind, desperate. _A chance like this doesn’t come up twice in a lifetime_ , it begged, but Bull shook it off, pulling his hand back and telling himself he wanted to be more than just half aware of what was happening if they were going to do anything, even if it was just making out.

Koslun’s hairy balls, Krem would _never_ believe him.

“I’m flattered, but there’s only so much emotion a man can take in a day before it’s too much,” he chuckled, making Dorian smile and nod, pulling his hands back from his inner thighs, much to his chagrin, then back to his knees, rubbing his scars again. Bull moaned softly with a sigh to indicate that _that_ particular physical contact was more than okay for now. “Maybe next time?”

“You have any future plans to nearly drown yourself _again_ , The Iron Bull?” Dorian teased, raising a single brow, and Bull hummed, grinning.

“Depends. If it means seeing you again I’d dare to take a swim in that river.” He looked at Dorian through his lashes, trying to look flirty, and managing to make the merman grin. Truly, Bull had no plans in the foreseeable future to place a single toe inside any sort of running, cold water, but he could say a white lie if it meant flirting with one of the most handsome man he’d ever seen. The thought behind it, at least, was genuine. “Really, though, I was thinking I could come back, if Felix gives me the ok. Preferably, when I’m a hundred percent again and not floating down the river, half dead and freezing my balls off. I like being conscious and somewhat well dressed for the first dates I have with people.”

That got a throaty laugh out of Dorian, and the merman slid his hands up Bull’s knee, placing them over the man’s thighs at a respectable distance from his crotch. He pulled himself up nearly all the way out of the water, effectively framing Bull’s massive body with his considerably smaller one, and placed a cold, wet peck on the stubble on his cheek. It took all of Bull’s self-control not to move his arms, to not remove his elbows from the boulders behind him and wrap them around the merman to pull him closer, because he knew if he did that he’d have zero intentions of letting go anytime soon.

“It’s a date, then, The Iron Bull,” Dorian whispered against the corner of his lip, slowly descending into the water and swimming back towards the rocks. “I’ll have Felix know you’re ready to retire to your room for the night. Sweet dreams.” And then he vanished behind the waterfall, as swiftly and mysteriously as he’d arrived.

 _Non-humans_ , Bull thought, shivering with a weird mix of arousal and fear. _Sexy, creepy-ass shits_.

\---

The next day, walking was mostly manageable, and Bull knew it was thanks to Dorian’s ministrations and the poultice Felix had given him the night before, warm and tingly and especially effective on his knee and legs.

Felix walked with Bull into the forest, following a small, carefully hidden path, which eventually led them to a paved road, where Felix unlocked a private garage adjacent to the road. From there, they climbed inside his car, and the ‘Vint took him straight to the lodge, which Bull knew the way to from where they were. He was met at the front of the building by the Chargers, who tackled him and screamed and cried in a tight group hug, their voices mingling with each other in a way that made Bull cry unashamedly. Deep down, Bull was just more than glad they were all ok.

“Here’s my number,” Felix said, gesturing to the card on his hand once Bull was free of the clinging arms, “and here is a copy of the house key. Dorian insisted I give it to you, and for some reason I trust you. Don’t know why, exactly.”

“You won’t regret it. Trusting him, I mean,” came a voice from behind Bull, and Felix smiled at Krem, who was crossing his arms awkwardly and pretending like he wasn't one of the people crying into Bull’s arms just then. “You can trust him with whatever, seriously. Once Cullen asked him to look after his dog for a weekend, and when he came back Luna had a new collar, was groomed and perfumed, and knew how to do three new different tricks.”

Felix laughed, making Bull rub his own neck and smile awkwardly. What could he do, Luna loved Bull, and Bull himself was smitten with the Lab mix the second he walked through Cullen’s door. She was the loveliest puppy. “Thanks, that makes me feel a _lot_ better.” The man handed the keys over, shaking Bull’s hand before giving him a half-hug. “It was nice meeting you, Bull. I hope to see you again.” A pause, and Felix grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Dorian too, you know. You got him quite smitten, and he’s usually very reserved around new people. I was a bit shocked, even; it has been awhile since I’ve seen him as happy as he looked last night after talking to you in the living room. Don't tell him I said that, though.”

Bull smiled and shook his head, promising to call back and to visit the cabin as soon as possible, and once Felix’s car pulled away and the Chargers were nearly done putting all their shit in their own trunk, Krem approached him, raising a single brow accusingly.

“Seriously, chief?”

“What?” He asked, the ‘ _I didn’t do anything’_ entirely implied on his tone. Krem was having none of it.

“Just let me see if I got this straight. You nearly _die_ , and as a result, you get free access to a private mountain cabin, _and_ get a booty call from one of your saviours? _How do you even do that_?!”

Bull shrugged, pocketing the card and the key, and wrapped a hand around Krem’s shoulder. “You buy us dinner tonight, and I’ll tell you all about it, Krem Puff.”

“Fucking incredible,” Krem grumbled, elbowing Bull in the ribs before returning the embrace, then walking back with him to the van with a matching grin etched on his face.

It was going to be one hell of a story.

\---

Three weeks later, Bull was feeling much better.

The man noticed quickly how much his near-death experience left the Chargers traumatized – Krem and Skinner most of all, since they were with him when he fell to what at the time they thought for certain was to his death – and they made Bull visit the hospital as soon as they got to their home city. They’d even managed to convince Bull to take a month long license from work, no matter that he was the Boss of his own moving company, alleging he needed more time to tend to his bad knee, which went through a lot of stress. They glared every time Bull made to intervene or deny something, so he just stayed quiet, answering the doctors’ questions when prompted and grinning at his friends.

Bull then got pampered through hell and back, which was something he didn’t mind much. Dalish took him to a sauna and spa hotel for a couple of days, where he was taken _very_ good care of, then Stitches introduced him to a masseuse and magic healer that specialized in bones and joints trauma. Combined, these two visits made his knee stop aching for the first time in _years_ , and the doctor even taught Stitches how to massage it himself if Bull couldn’t physically come to his clinic.

Grim’s gift was a huge batch of his favourite cupcakes, which Bull ate with the hugest grin on his face, and Rocky’s was a new, shinier eyepatch and a new brace that fit perfectly around his ankle and was much, _much_ better than his old one, which was already getting rusty and clunky around the edges. Skinner and Krem were the last ones to present him with something: five-days tickets to the amusement park that Bull was _dying_ to go to ever since it opened, complete with a four stars hotel stay for himself and all of his boys during Christmas time. Bull stared at it, wide-eyed and stuttering, and Krem placed a hand on his arm and shook his head.

“I talked to some people. Apparently Grim is very influential,” he explained, and still Bull shook his head again, incredulous.

“This must’ve cost you a fortune, Krem Puff,” Bull whispered, still in shock, and Krem grinned, apparently very satisfied that he’d finally managed to leave Bull, of all people, utterly speechless.

“That’s none of your business, chief. And I don’t want you to go prying around either, because I know you want to. This is a _gift_ ,” and Krem smiled, softly, hand still on Bull’s arm. Physical contact had been very grounding to Krem these last few weeks, no matter how small, and it went unsaid how much they meant to Bull too. “We all want to celebrate you being here with us, well and healthy. This is more than worth it.”

And so, at the last week of his forced leave, Bull decided to call Felix, who he’d been texting every couple of days to fill him in on how he was. He wanted to ask about the cabin, and, of course, about _Dorian_.

“Oh, he’s going to be there for sure,” Felix told him, sounding excited about Bull’s interest in his keeping his friend company. Bull thumbed the brass key on his pocket and hummed. “He never strays too far from the house, especially given how cold it’s getting up in the mountains at this time of the year. He told me he used to curl up and barely move at all during winter before I came along, with what he calls my ‘magically heated, glorified bathtub’. He scoffs at it because he loves it, really.”

“Is it magically heated?” Bull asked, curious.

“Oh, yeah. I bought a few heated runes, and they keep the temperature of the whole system nice and warm. Dorian knows not to mess with them, and I only have to get the runes remade every six months or so, which was what I was doing there when we met.”

“So, uh,” Bull coughed, awkwardly. “What’s the story behind him? Dorian, I mean. He said he left his people because they were vicious assholes, is that true?”

Felix hummed, seemingly thinking. “He never told me much more than that, to be honest. Apparently some of the things people say about merpeople in general aren’t very accurate, but not completely untrue either. Obviously, he hated most of it, so he left. Swam for about a week until he found the river, then he went upwards to where my parents were planning to build that house for me. And that’s how we met.”

Bull nodded to the receiver. Apparently, there was a lot more to Dorian than what met the eye. “Anything else I should know?”

“Dorian mostly comes back to the house when the sun starts setting, or if it’s raining. If you arrive during a clear day, just light a fire in the living room’s fireplace. He’ll see the smoke from the chimney and meet you there.”

\---

Bull went shopping for groceries in the evening and packed lightly first thing in the morning, putting everything he might need on the back of his trunk. The Chargers weren’t happy about letting him leave on his own, especially to go back to that place so little time after what they began to call _The Incident_ , but Krem convinced the Chargers that their chief needed some space to himself after they’d smothered him so much, and although begrudgingly, they all agreed.

He left before the first ray of sunshine, wanting to use as much of the daylight as he could, and three hours later he was pulling up to Felix’s personal garage, now empty and ready to take in his car. Once parked, he got his bags off the trunk and entered the forest, following the same steps as last time. He had a very good photographic memory and the trail was easy to spot.

With his new brace on and a pleasingly chilly temperature to boot, Bull arrived at the cabin in about thirty minutes in a very good mood, unlocking the front door and calling out in case Dorian was around, which he wasn’t. So he settled down before anything, putting his clothes on the master bedroom and the groceries in Felix’s fabulously equipped kitchen. He lit up the fireplace last, secretly hoping Dorian would show up soon, wondering idly about what he’d cook for lunch.

Dorian appeared about thirty minutes later, as Bull danced and sang completely off-key to Katy Perry.

“Bull?” Came a hesitant voice from behind him, and Bull startled, jumping a little from where he was peeling a potato. Dorian was watching the man, hands flat open on the floor as if to keep his torso upright, looking oddly confused. Bull smiled.

“Dorian!” He exclaimed happily, turning the music down. “You came! Do you want me to put the fire out for you, is the living room temperature okay?”

“The living room temperature is quite fine, I... do forgive my astonishment. I didn’t expect you to come back, honestly. At least not so soon.”

Bull nodded, and then went back to the sink, picking up where he left but turning his body towards the archway that led to the living room. “I got a few friends who helped me heal up quickly,” he said, looking back at where Dorian was starting to grin, water still dripping from his body down onto the wooden floor. “How long can you stay out of water for? Lunch will be ready real soon. Do you eat beef? I was thinking about cooking some for us.”

“I’ve had it quite a few times,” Dorian said, half dragging himself, half slithering his huge tail awkwardly across the floor like a snake, then plopping up on one of the acrylic and cushiony chairs on the kitchen island. “Felix doesn’t cook much, but he always orders human food at least once when he comes to the cabin.” He shrugged, eyes glassy and focused on somewhere far away, probably reliving fond memories. His lip quirked up in a smile, and he sighed, dreamily. “The first time I had beef, I thought it was _exquisite_. And to answer your first question, I can stay out of water for a couple of hours, tops. Felix’s house is quite humid to keep me comfortable. As long as you give me a few glasses of water every now and then I should be fine.”

Conversation flowed easily after that, Bull chopping and cooking while Dorian watched from his spot on his chair. Bull found out Dorian’s diet consisted mostly of fish and that he usually had them raw, which he didn’t mind. Bull told him he was making Dorian his ultimate favourite meal, Japanese curry with rice, and he hoped the strong spices didn’t hurt his mouth. Dorian scoffed, and told him he was used to Felix’s rather hot taste in meals, which led him to ask how long they’d been friends for.

“About five years now,” Dorian said as Bull set the table on the island, the merman fiddling with his fork. “It took him about a year to build this cabin, which turned out to be designed as much for me as it was for him.” He shook his head, his drying raven hair swaying and his smile becoming bittersweet. “I hardly deserve Felix’s friendship. He took me under his wing for no reason, when I had no one else. I would have probably perished by now if it wasn’t for him.”

“Why’d you say that?” Bull asked, serving them both with rice and a good ladle of curry, and Dorian looked at him with a sad, sad expression.

“We merpeople are very social creatures. Isolation doesn’t do us any good, honestly. I had no idea where I was going when I left my home, but I was half convinced I’d die alone and miserable in a nook in this mountaintop, if not from loneliness, from cold. The river’s surface can freeze some winters up here; deep sea water is cold, but it’s not the same thing.” Dorian smiled then, half-genuine, half-fake, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Gratefully, he found me before that could happen, and now, here we are.”

“Here we are indeed,” Bull smiled sympathetically, offering Dorian a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. The merman eyed it warily, but drank anyway, quickly perking up and draining the glass in one quick swoop and making Bull laugh. “I knew you’d liked it,” he said, then dug in.

The food was, as usual, amazing. Bull prided himself in being a great cook, and Dorian seemed to agree. He called me meat juicy, and the curry exotic, and told him he’d never had anything like it before. After a couple of glasses of water to wash down the heat of the spices, Bull promised to leave the name of the dish so Felix could buy some the next time he came over.

Leftovers properly stored on the fridge, Bull walked past Dorian, who was dipping his tail into the living room’s lake, and went to brush his teeth, raising his brow when he saw Dorian dragging himself through the suite’s bathroom door about three minutes later.

“A _true_ gentleman would’ve helped me here, you know,” he grumbled, pulling himself up on what Bull found were very strategically placed handles on the side of the sink and reaching towards the medicine cabinet, grabbing a fancy purple toothbrush. Bull watched, his own toothbrush forgot in his foamy mouth, as Dorian put toothpaste on the brush using an automatic dispenser on the wall and began brushing his teeth, as delicately as he did everything else.

A few seconds later he looked up at Bull, who hadn’t stop staring, and frowned. “Wh’t?” He asked through his mouthful, and Bull spat on the sink, grinning.

“Felix really did think of everything, didn’t he,” he said, amused, brushing his teeth some more, and Dorian rolled his eyes dramatically, ignoring him in favour of finishing his own brushing.

“I’ll have you know he didn’t think of _everything_ ,” Dorian quipped once they’d both rinsed their mouths, and Bull allowed the merman to lean against his shoulder, half-carrying him to the living room so he wouldn’t have to keep crawling. Once there, Dorian sunk onto the water with ease, floating on his back, Bull stepping away and settling down on the couch. “You don’t think about things like the smell of your breath when you’re living under water. Felix used to do the most impressive faces when I talked too close to him, so I suggested he adapt his bathroom to share it with me.”

“I can see how fish breath could be a problem,” Bull joked, and Dorian grinned, looking up at him.

“I found that I rather enjoy it, actually. Oral hygiene, I mean. You humans have odd yet practical grooming habits. Felix taught me how to do my own hair a long time ago, but I wish I could grow facial hair like you do.” He rubbed his hand over his cheek and upper lips, frowning. “I always did think I’d be able to pull a very impressive moustache.”

“You could pull almost anything and make it work, Dorian,” Bull smiled, leaning back on the couch and stretching his legs to enjoy the warmth coming from the dying flames of the fireplace. Dorian smiled, whispered a shy ‘thank you’, and the room fell into a companionable quietness that Bull enjoyed sometimes, almost like when he hung out with Krem in their tiny shared apartment.

He leaned his head back, humming thoughtfully, limbs and eye heavy with the warm food in his belly, and he let the sound of the waterfall and fireplace before him lull him to a peaceful sleep.

\---

When Bull woke up, he felt well rested and pleasantly warm. The fire was down to just coal, and the sun was high up in the sky. He looked around and saw Dorian on the edge of the lake, arms wrapped around a slightly damp pillow, head atop it, sleeping peacefully.

Bull got up, stretching as quietly as possible, and made his way into the kitchen, where he quickly whipped up a couple of fruit salads bowls. He took them to the living room, where Dorian was slowly waking up, and sat on the floor beside him, crossing his legs and handing him one of the bowls.

“How thoughtful,” Dorian grinned lazily, only half awake and his right cheek still mushed against the pillow. “I say, this is nothing like I imagined our second encounter to go. Is that how you’re planning to seduce me, Bull? With spiced meat curry and freshly chopped fruits?”

“Well, there _is_ a motto that says that the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Besides, I figured my tighty whities had done half the job of seducing you the other week, so we could just skip that part.” Dorian laughed, popping a strawberry onto his mouth and looking up at Bull lovingly. “Anyway, you're not being particularly seducing yourself, mister ‘I have fish breath and drag myself around the house like a fat baby snake’.”

“I beg your pardon!” Dorian gawked, indignant. “I’ll let you know, I could lure you in _even_ with my fish breath!”

“Oh I don’t doubt that for even a second, big guy,” Bull drawled, eating a slice of orange, and Dorian deflated, most likely not expecting such a straightforward answer. “But, see, so far you’re all talk. Now we’re both fed, well rested and in particularly good moods, so come on, I wanna see some of that merman seducing game you promise so much but haven’t delivered yet.”

Dorian watched him carefully, fruit bowl nearly forgotten on his grip. Bull waggled his brow, grinning as he bit onto a raspberry, and Dorian snorted, shaking his head and looking down onto his own bowl. He then fished a grape, delicately, the fruit dripping with orange juice, and licked it clean, slowly yet deliberately, ravishing and polishing the skin of the grape like it was the most delicious delicacy he’d ever had. He then popped it between his lips and bit it in half before looking up at Bull from between his lashes, a small grin curling up at the corner of his lips.

Bull shivered. Dorian’s eyes shone like jewels, and his mouth glistened, tongue darting out again to catch the second half of the grape and lick the tip of his fingers clean _just so_ , all the while maintaining eye contact with the man above him. Once done with the grape he pushed his bowl aside, catching Bull’s from between his slack fingers and setting it aside as well, then placed both hands flat over Bull’s thighs, which were still crossed on the floor. He used the leverage to pull himself up until they were both eye to eye, Dorian opening his mouth and breathing out against Bull’s lips as the man shivered, conflicted between looking at Dorian’s naked chest, the fingers dampening his pants, his sharp teeth behind his plump lips, or his maddeningly hypnotizing eyes.

“Is that what you want, The Iron Bull?” He asked, humming contently, biting his lower lip as he assessed the man before and beneath him, watching Bull’s throat bob as he swallowed nervously. “You want me to show you _all_ I can do? Think you can handle it?

“Oh, yeah,” Bull grunted, hands lifting from where they were nearly frozen by his sides and grasping Dorian’s hips like he’d wanted to all those weeks ago, scaly and rough under his hand. Dorian loved it, given the way he gasped out when Bull hauled the merman up and closer, pulling him flush against his chest, shirt sticking to the skin of his pectorals. Dorian hummed in delight, hands trailing up under Bull’ shirt now they weren't supporting all his body weight anymore, fingers and nails dancing over the man’s hard stomach and up over his pectorals, squeezing them in his palms. Bull groaned and smiled, almost like a challenge. “I can most definitely handle whatever you’re gonna throw at me, big guy.”

“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you,” Dorian giggled, squeezing the pecs under his hands again and making Bull jump and gasp at the sensation, then pulling the offending fabric above the man’s head. He looked down, eyeing the man’s muscles almost in awe, then hungrily he eyed the man’s dark lips, tongue darting out briefly before he dove in for a kiss.

Their lips merely touched at first, as if getting to know each other better, and quickly Dorian pressed closer to Bull, moist and soft lips tasting of grapes and strawberries. Although his skin felt colder to the touch than a human’s, Bull enjoyed feeling the contrast against his too-warm skin, the slide of his rougher mouth against Dorian’s smooth one. The merman briefly parted his lips, placing slow, dragging kisses over Bull’s scar, then over the stubble on his chin and jaw, hand darting up to trace the closely shaved hair atop Bull’s head, then smoothing back down over his nape and coming back around to Bull’s cheeks, mouth opening to deepen their kiss.

Bull hummed, then slid his hands down over Dorian’s scales, feeling the texture on his callused fingers and rubbing in what he hoped were soothing gestures, and given how Dorian seemed to melt under his touch and moan against his mouth, he assumed he was doing a good job at it. His tail flickered against the water, splashing them both with lukewarm droplets, and Dorian hauled himself up and settled more comfortably over Bull’s lap, his fin slapping loudly over the floor like a wet fish out of water. Bull giggled.

“You’re soaking up my sweatpants,” he said against the merman’s lips, and Dorian smiled, a wicked grin on his lips.

“Well, you’re drying my skin with your wandering hands, but you don’t see me complaining, do you?”

“I’m not complaining,” Bull shrugged. “Just saying, maybe I should, you know. Avoid getting them wet.”

Dorian raised a single brow, grinning. “And what, pray tell, do you suggest we do to not get them thoroughly wet?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I have a few... ideas,” Bull whispered against Dorian’s cheek, thumbs hooking to the waistband of his pants and pulling down, revealing more of the happy trail on his belly and the dips of the bones and muscles on his hips. He saw Dorian watching, mouth slightly agape as he gasped out, and the merman gripped the man’s shoulders, squeezing until it was nearly painful. Bull moaned loudly at that, reaching up to nibble at the fins on the side of Dorian’s head and making the merman shiver almost violently on his lap. “Still with me, big guy?” Bull asked, bringing his pants down even further, and when he’d pulled them down enough so Dorian could see the base of his cock in between his pubes, the man cried out, then roughly pushed Bull down onto the floor, winding him out just slightly.

“Oh, _definitely_ ,” he purred, sinking his nails on Bull’s muscles as he dove down to kiss him again, tail slithering around until Bull bent his legs up, framing Dorian’s lower torso, making them fit together like two pieces in a puzzle. The grip on his shoulders shifted, nails sliding down his arms, raking deep red lines onto the man’s dark skin until they reached Bull’s hands, still holding on to the waistband of his pants. Dorian got a hold of them, fingers slipping under the offending fabric along with Bull’s thumbs and pushing them both down in one swoop movement, making Bull’s sizable erection spring up and hit against his belly, making the two men chuckle. Dorian looked down, eyes half lidded and dark with barely contained lust, his lips red and swollen from kissing, and Bull grunted as the sight spread heat through his body, making his cock twitch as he kicked his pants down and away with his toes, revealing his lower torso to the merman above him.

“Is this your first time? With a human?”

Dorian looked up, cheeks flushing beautifully, breathing a bit laboured. “In this... setting, yes,” he breathed out and looked back down, almost as if transfixed by the sight, the hands on Bull’s hips twitching as if aching to come closer, to _touch_. “I’ve been with other merman before, but humans... Felix, oh bless his heart, Felix once indulged me, undressing to show me how humans worked, because I couldn’t believe you kept your genitals _unsheathed_ like that, just... out in the open, it’s just so... _vulnerable_. But I never... _we’ve_ never... oh dear lord above, I never knew they could get so _big_!”

Bull barked out a laugh, shaking Dorian above him, and reached up to wrap his arms around Dorian’s torso, one hand cupping the back of the merman’s neck, fingers rubbing his fins just to make them twitch. The other came lower, stroking up and down the man’s gills, watching as they fluttered under his touch and made Dorian gasp out, like a stuttered moan, his whole body twitching and writhing above him. Dorian gave in to the touches and pressed closer, lying completely atop Bull, the man’s erection effectively trapped between them and making Dorian sigh out at the sensation.

“You’re so hot, Bull. Like coal.” He murmured, pressing his lips to Bull’s in quick kisses, then deepening it until their tongues mingled, cold hands warming up as Dorian framed Bull’s face under his palms, running them up and down to feel the rough scratch of the man’s stubble against his skin. He scratched with his nails as he bit, gently, at the man’s lip, right above his scar, then licked it to soothe the sting away. The bite hurt Bull just a bit, enough to make him jump; the teeth inside the merman’s mouth were flat like a human’s but sharper, but Dorian knew just how much to tease but not draw blood, calculating the pressure to make sure it was not too little nor too much, just enough. Bull moaned, biting Dorian’s lower lip and sucking, then kissing him deeply again as he hugged him tighter, closer, needing _more_.

Something wet over his groin made Bull finally break the kiss, breathless and panting, and he tried looking down at where their bodies pressed together, although he couldn’t see anything unusual given how close they were. But when he looked back up at Dorian, the merman had his eyes half closed, hips working back and forth, his face the picture of pure ecstasy. Bull tangled his thick fingers into Dorian’s hair, and the merman looked back at the man below him almost reluctantly, as if focusing his energy and concentration on anything else pained him just so.

“Can I see you?” he said, whispering, voice low and soothing. It took Dorian a few seconds to make out the man’s words, but he nodded, placing his forearms on the floor besides Bull’s torso and lifting his body up and off Bull’s.

At first, Bull wasn’t sure what he was looking at. From under Dorian’s torso, appearing from between his scales, was something rosy and pointy, yet firm and almost soft against his thigh. He grabbed hold of Dorian’s hips again, hauling him up until his chest was on Bull’s eye level, making the merman gasp at the sudden shift that allowed a better look at what Bull was slowly realizing to be Dorian’s genital. It was completely unsheathed and _squirming_ , a slick and transparent coating around it, and a tight foreskin at the base connected the long member to a couple of rosy lips from where the appendage had apparently slithered. He looked back, watching as Dorian’s head dropped between his hunched shoulders, hair framing his face as his eyes shut tightly and the flush on his cheeks spread down to his collarbone, apparently in embarrassment. Bull wondered if the man thought he found him weird, or odd, or even worse, _disgusting_ , when in reality Bull was holding himself back despite his curiosity as to how Dorian would feel under his fingers, across his palm, inside his mouth, against his tongue. It made his mouth water just thinking about it.

“Can I touch it?” Bull asked, looking back at Dorian’s face, and the man nodded frantically, mouth opening to breathe out heavily.

“ _Kaffas_ , yes, _yes_ you may, oh yes _please--_ ”

Bull wasted no time, immediately wrapping his hand around Dorian’s member. The merman let out a quiet scream as his whole body tensed, the dick inside Bull’s fist twitching and spasming as the tip that just peeked through his fingers spilled a few thick droplets of precum over his abs. Slowly, he ran his hand up, the slide made easy with the slick that coated the soft and smooth skin, flicking his wrist up as he would if he were touching his own prick, then roaming down to where foreskin met shaft, fingers prodding and pushing and experimenting as Dorian panted and moaned loudly above him, hips stuttering but remaining otherwise still to allow Bull to do to him whatever he wanted.

“ _Shit_ , Dorian,” he sighed, tugging again at the member in his hand, feeling it pulse and noticing how thicker and harder it’d became since he’d began playing with it, and how much more pliant and weaker Dorian looked atop him, voice hoarse and more and more high pitched the longer Bull touched him. “You have no idea how delicious you sound.”

“It’s been... _ah_ , a, a while,” he gasped out in between moans, stuttering, and Bull looked up, watching as the gills over Dorian’s ribs flared open as his chest expanded with his laboured breathing, then closed again, becoming reddish lines over Dorian’s brown skin. _Fuck_ , but it stirred something inside Bull, seeing the man so open, so vulnerable atop him. “It’s, _hng_ , been too fucking long, _ah_ , let me, _ooh_ , let me touch you too, you insufferable tease!”

“ _Fuck_ yeah, you don’t even gotta ask twice, big guy,” Bull grunted, sitting up and sliding Dorian back into his lap. The merman yelped and Bull muffled the sound with his mouth, kissing him silly, eager and sloppy, all thoughts of finesse thrown to the window with how excited and hot for the merman he was. He grinned impishly as Dorian whined and begged against his lips when he just kept kissing him as hard and messily as he could, hands tightening on the scales on his hips, tight enough to bruise a regular person.

However, Dorian wasn’t a regular person, and he reminded Bull of that fact when he grabbed Bull’s thighs, spreading them apart with an unthinkable strength, then moving around until his tail was bent back almost awkwardly and his own dick finally lined up with Bull’s. Bull was pretty sure he’d have finger shaped bruises on his thighs come morning, and the thought made him moan and rut against the merman with enthusiasm.

Dorian pulled back then, resting his forehead on Bull’s shoulder, and Bull allowed him as he was too busy catching his breath. Then Dorian reached down, grasping at his cock, fully hard at this point, and the man gasped, the air catching on his throat at the sensation of nimble fingers caressing him, warmth shooting up his spine and making him shiver.

“It’s so... _hard_ ,” Dorian whispered in awe, sliding the foreskin up and down and giggling. “Oh, so you _do_ have a sheath. How quaint.”

“Also practical,” Bull gasped, “because you can do, _ah_ , exactly what you’re doing, and it feels amazing. Just don’t pull it down too far. Here.”

To show his point, he reached down, wrapping his fingers around Dorian’s, and slowly worked the skin up over the head then back down, just as he would if he were alone, the precum gathered at the tip more than enough to provide a good slide. Dorian watched, grinning when Bull tightened his fingers, a silent request that Dorian do so as well. Boldly, Dorian quickened his pace, getting the hang of the motion quickly and efficiently, squeezing here to test the give of the muscle, then there to feel the curve of the glands, watching with delight as he milked precum out of the tip of the cock in his hand. Bull deemed him distracted enough and drew his hand away, biting his lip as he mentally complimented Dorian for being _such_ a good student and learning oh so fast. Whatever finesse and techniques he lacked, Dorian made up for it tenfold with enthusiasm and an awed curiosity. It was not only very endearing, but it made Bull shake with pleasure and grasp at every inch of naked, cold skin he could reach, scratching and rubbing and clutching this and that way as Dorian had his fun and then more.

Slowly, the warmth spread through his veins like liquid coal, making his fingers tingle and his body tense up tighter, back arching and his eyes closing tightly. He could feel Dorian watching him, hand still working deftly and quickly over his cock, and he moaned out, loudly and unashamed, feeling his heart beat much too fast in his chest as the pressure grew and grew, maddeningly amazing. Bull tried to hold it back, but it was  _hard_ , especially when wandering fingers fumbled lower, groping and caressing the sensitive skin of his testicles, drawn up from pleasure and ready to burst. He keened, and let the warmth spread to the edge of his limbs, his orgasm spilling over, thick white come coating the merman’s fingers and his own naked abs and chest in long, warm ropes.

Dorian watched in awe as Bull’s muscles tensed and his body arched back in tandem with the fluttering and increasingly stronger pulse inside the merman’s closed fist. Slowly, Bull came down from his high, muscles relaxing and sagging, the tip of the member on Dorian's hand still leaking with come, the liquid painting Dorian's fingers in thick droplets and contrasting beautifully against Bull’s much darker skin tone. It made a shiver run through Dorian's body, and languidly he leaned over, flattening his tongue in what he hoped looked obscenely good, and licked the come out of the man’s sweaty skin.

Dorian looked up under his lashes, making Bull’s heart miss a beat and his spent cock dribble weakly over his thigh. _Fuck_ , but he looked amazing like that, cheeks flushed and tongue out, worshipping the skin beneath his lips, looking smug almost as if he was defiling holy ground. He kissed after the wet path his tongue traced, and savoured the slightly bitter fluid like it was a delicacy like no other.

Dorian hummed when he was done, bringing his fingers to his mouth and sucking the come there with the lewdest noises and most obscene faces he could muster, making sure to loll his tongue out and push at the webbing between them. Bull threw all his self-control out the window right then, pulling Dorian’s hand away and diving for his mouth, claiming it hungrily. He tasted himself on the merman’s tongue, felt the vibrations on his smaller chest as he practically purred against the bigger man, felt the fluttering of the gills under his broad palms as he roamed his hands down his torso. Again Dorian’s dick became trapped against his belly, the thick member pulsing wantonly, and he growled at the sensation, grabbing on to the man’s hips tightly and rolling, bringing him up and around with ease, twisting them both until Bull himself was lying on his front and Dorian was sprawled beautifully beneath him on the living room's floor.

Bull scoot down until he was properly at eye level with Dorian’s glistening crotch, and licked his lips. Dorian’s tail flopped along Bull’s side, slowly relaxing as the merman settled down comfortably on the wooden floor, and he leaned up on his elbows to look properly at the human, who was eyeing his intimates with a look that said with no doubt that he’d be ravished sooner rather than later.

“Show me how you do it, Dorian. Touch yourself.” The words were spoken in a near whisper, Bull’s voice impossibly low and thick with lust, and Dorian bit his lower lip and nodded, eagerly reaching down and feeling himself, gasping when Bull splayed both hands out next to his folds, so agonizingly close and warm, and yet so, so far. He fingered the sheath at the base, wrapping his other hand around the middle, the widest part of it, then slowly worked his hand up while his left wandered further down, slipping over the space where his dick fit when fully sheathed, then lower, prodding over his anus, making Bull widen his eyes. He fingered himself slowly and leisurely, taking his time, using his own slick as lube and moaning lowly as his other hand played agonizingly slow on his squirming member. Bull was hypnotized.

“You’re so wet,” he breathed out, almost a growl, and Dorian chuckled, raising his fingers to gather some slick and toy with it, just for show and just for Bull.

“We produce a lot so there’s no friction under water. If it was all washed away as soon as the fun began, then we wouldn’t be making many children, now would we?” He grinned, placing one of his fingers over Bull’s lips, and Bull quickly complied, closing his lips over it and sucking.

It tasted exotic. Sharp, tangy, oddly thick on his tongue, and Bull felt like he couldn’t get enough of it. Dorian pulled back when his fingers were thoroughly cleaned, and almost immediately Bull dove, thumbs pressing against Dorian’s member and lips slotting against the underside, tongue tracing the muscle’s outline and teeth grazing over the skin, making Dorian jump and gasp loudly, body shuddering violently beneath him.

“Oh, _oh_ , Bull!” He cried out, still wet hands darting down automatically to scrape over Bull’s shaved head, and when he squeaked and made to draw back and apologize, Bull reached up and placed the hands back on him with an approving growl and a loud hum around Dorian. The merman easily obeyed, nails almost painfully digging into Bull’s scalp, babbling and keening wordlessly as Bull pulled up and sucked at the pointy tip, feeling a flow of slick dribbling into his mouth and overwhelming his taste buds in all the right ways. When he dove back down, his hands drifted lower, poking and prodding gently at his hole much like Dorian had done himself.

Dorian watched for a short while, Bull looking up under his lashes in what he knew what his sexiest blowjob face, and it seemed to have the intended effect, because Dorian groaned and threw his head back, hands tightening on Bull’s scalp as the man licked and suckled just the right ways and his fingers prodded just a bit harder. The merman arched his back, the gills on his ribs opening and closing widely, and a sheen of sweat gathered over his brown skin. It was a gorgeous sight, and with a deep breath Bull swallowed around Dorian’s member, fixing the angle so he wouldn't hurt either of them. Although Dorian was almost as long as he was, he was slim and soft on the tip, not to mention a lot more flexible all around - it made taking him down to the hilt all the easier. Dorian howled in response, hips pushing up to invade more of that wonderful heat and tightness, and Bull relaxed a bit more to take it, feeling Dorian’s member moving and twitching around in his mouth to go deeper and deeper. It was _glorious_.

Bull pulled back a few seconds later to breathe in, then looked up at Dorian, where he was looking down, eyes half lidded and almost foggy. “Fuck my mouth, Dorian. Come down my throat,” he said, a tad breathless, and Dorian moaned out loudly, reaching down to thrust one finger into his anus up until the last knuckle, and Bull watched with rapt attention as he pulled out and then insert two, fucking himself with the lewdest noises Bull had ever heard.

“ _Maker_ _,_ please fuck me while you swallow me down, Bull,” Dorian gasped as he withdrew his fingers, then chuckled. “That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard myself say.”

“Not a lot of mouth-to-genitals involved in merman sex, I take it?”

“Sharp teeth,” Dorian blurted out as Bull grinned, replacing Dorian’s finger with his index one and pushing in agonizingly slow. “ _Ah_ , they’re not, _ohh_ , not blunt like yours, oh _please_ Bull, I need you, _t _ake me__.”

“Since you ask so nicely,” he said, teasingly, taking a deep breath then diving in again, and this time Dorian wasted no time, pushing up roughly once Bull settled, then pulling back and pushing back in, both with his hips and hands, still firmly placed over Bull’s head. His pace quickened sharply once Bull began to thrust his finger into Dorian roughly, and the merman shouted, moaned, plead, sang _beautifully,_  and Bull felt sweat running down his forehead, Dorian’s hands slipping on him as he trembled, the pleasure making them both slowly lose control. Just as Bull began to think he’d need to tap out for air, he felt the merman beneath him tensing tightly like a bowstring, then releasing on the back of his throat with a deep and long howl, nails sinking onto his skin, making Bull’s eyes water at the combined sensations, a shiver running down his body at the thrill of it.

He pulled back and breathed in, slowing his hand’s movements, feeling sore but happy as he gently rubbed inside Dorian, using his other hand to milk him while his tongue cleaned him up thoroughly. When Dorian shuddered and tried to push him away, Bull complied, withdrawing both hands as he watched half of Dorian’s penis slither back inside his sheath and his folds closing up, leaving just a slither of pink flesh showing. Dorian panted, exhausted, and Bull crawled up with his good knee, lying next to the merman on the wooden floor and rubbing his fingers over his naked, heaving chest, soothingly.

Dorian opened his eyes and smirked, a bit of teeth peeking out from his half open mouth. “You look gorgeous,” he whispered, touching Bull’s reddened lips.

“I probably look like a mess,” Bull retorted, voice rough, and Dorian nodded, scooting closer and wrapping both arms around the man’s bulk.

“Exactly. You look all fucked out. _Beautiful_ ,” he sighed, almost dreamily, leaning in for a kiss.

They stayed like that, lying on the wooden floor, until Dorian announced he needed water, and Bull moved with him to the warm lake, still wrapped around Dorian’s arms and vice versa. They soaked and swam in the lake, Dorian maybe showing off a little, and Bull watched, mesmerized, as his fins flowed in the water, the colours shifting and the scales glowing slightly under the lights in the living room and the ones under the water. He smiled, and they had their second round right there, with Bull leaning over the lake’s edge, getting the wooden floors thoroughly wet as Dorian wrapped around and behind him, fucking him in a way he’d never been fucked before.

They spent the week like that: alternating between sleeping, talking, eating and fucking each other’s brains out until they were both happily spent, and Bull even managed to convince Dorian to bathe with him once, an experience he wasn’t willing to repeat, claiming the soaps made his skin and scales much too dry. Overall, Bull had a lot of fun, and he even dared to say it was the most fun he’d ever had with a lover, ever. Judging by the way Dorian seemed to be glued to his hip and how softly he smiled after their kisses, be them slow and sweet or messy and sloppy, he felt that the merman was enjoying himself as well.

He left with a heavy heart on Sunday, kissing Dorian until they were both breathless before finally leaving him behind, in that empty cabin in the middle of the mountain. Alone. During winter.

Ah, _fuck_. Bull didn’t want to admit it, but he had it _bad_ , and his protective instincts stirred, not in the least pleased with the thought of just abandoning Dorian like that.

“Felix,” he said to his phone once he was on the road, fiddling with the car’s speakers. “Let’s say I don’t like the idea of Dorian alone for weeks at a time in that house, all by himself. What would you say about it?”

Felix laughed over the speakers, but it was humourless. “I’d say you got the same idea as I do. I don’t like it any more than you do, Bull.”

“So what’s the plan, then?” He asked, looking out the window, at the trees running past his window, and in his mind, he could see it clear as day: Dorian, sulking under water, tail and arms coiled tightly around himself, leaning against a rock and looking up at the lake’s pristine surface. Waiting and hoping and longing for something, someone, _anyone_ , which would never come. Completely and utterly _alone_.

Bull noticed Felix hadn’t said anything yet either, the tension in the car almost stifling, suffocating Bull in all the wrong ways, almost like he was under water all over again, fighting not to drown and unable to breathe in without choking. Something in him knew that Felix must’ve thought about this countless times, and found himself time and time again faced with the very same wall they’d stumbled upon now. The cabin was too isolated, and building a new house that big in the city would not only cost a fortune, but could take about a year or two. No, if it had to be done, someone had to go _to_ Dorian, not the other way around. But how...

An idea sprang to his mind.

“If you don’t mind me suggesting something,” Bull began, weighing his thoughts slowly, chewing over them before speaking. But all he could think was, _shit, this could actually work._ “I think I may have an idea.”

\---

“You’re serious.”

“One hundred percent, Krem Puff.”

“And you don’t see how this is a crazy plan. At all.”

Bull sighed, closing up the cardboard box he was arranging. “Look,” he began, losing the humorous undertone on his voice. “I know this is a big step, a huge leap even. But... I want to do this. There’s a phone line and internet connection in the cabin, so I’ll be fine on that front, and you can finally, officially invite Lace to move over with you now my room will be free.”

“That’s not...!” Krem began, then paused, rubbing his temples. “Look, Bull. You’re a big guy, you can take care of yourself, I know all that, and obviously you can do the paperwork our job requires from virtually anywhere. I just want to make sure you’re not killing yourself by leaping headfirst onto what you think is a soft fluffy bed of feathers when it’s in fact just asphalt covered in dead goose.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, Krem,” Bull smiled, getting to his feet and opening his arms wide, and though Krem scoffed he stepped right up anyway, hugging the man tightly.

“You know you’re free to come back anytime, right? If it doesn’t work out.”

“I know. Thanks,” Bull whispered, voice equally thick with unshed tears, and Krem nodded against his wide chest. The younger man would take Bull’s place as the new boss of The Chargers’ moving company, Bull finally migrating to do their finances and settle their contracts like the boys have been bothering him to for the last two or three years, ever since his knee starting acting up, and he’d move into the cabin with Dorian. Felix quickly agreed with the plan, sounding so deeply relieved Bull felt like this could _actually_ work.

They took one of their smaller trucks, and all the Chargers came along, helping Bull carry his boxes into the thick of the forest and into the house. Bull didn’t have many, but his friends – his rumbustious yet perfect little  _family_ – insisted they all come along, six pairs of keen eyes watching the thick of the forest up in the mountain, as if to make sure nothing would jump out from behind the trees and ambush them. It made Bull swell with pride, at how fast they rushed to protect him.

When Bull opened the front door, he walked in and eyed the lake warily. It had been just three days since he left the place, but it still made Bull excited to be there again. “Dorian?” He called out, hopeful, and after almost a whole minute of silence he saw a tuft of raven black hair appear at the further corner of the lake, exactly where he’d pictured the merman would be left sulking. _Shit_. It made Bull’s heart break into tiny little pieces, the man biting his bottom lip as he stepped further into the room. Dorian slowly emerged as he took in the whole scene, eying Bull with a shocked expression as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“What are you doing back so soon? Did you forget something?” Dorian asked, suspiciously eyeing the box under both of Bull's arms and the group of slack jawed and wide-eyed people entering the house with him.

“Nope, nothing like that,” Bull grinned, setting the boxes down next to the couch, and the Chargers followed suit, putting his luggage down and looking up and around the walls and then over to where Dorian was slowly swimming towards the lake’s edge. They seemed impressed and slightly bewitched by both the house and the merman inhabiting it, almost like Bull was himself for the first time he laid eyes on them both. “I’m, uh... moving. Here. With you. That is, if you’re ok with it.”

“I ain’t taking these boxes back to the truck if he’s not, chief,” Rocky grunted from behind Bull, but his eyes never left Dorian, body tense as he watched the merman’s tail flick off the water. “By the endless heavens above, it _was_ true.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I brought my boys along,” Bull rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, stepping closer to the lake and crouching down to get to Dorian’s eye level. The merman was looking confused, still a bit in shock, and he looked from Bull to the people walking around and examining the house and then back again like it couldn't be true. “After the week we had, I couldn’t just... leave you here. Felix gave me his blessing to rent the place for myself, and I’d very much enjoy living here with your company, if you’re up for it.”

“And we’ll visit too!” Skinner exclaimed somewhere from the kitchen, scurrying back to the living room with a wild grin on her lips. “This place is _amazing_ , chief, ain’t no way you’re keeping us away from it!”

“Did you see the bedrooms? They’re practically _palaces_!” Dalish exclaimed from the other side of the living room, and Skinner perked up, running towards her as Krem waved his head and took the box he was carrying to where they’d vanished. “Don’t mind me, who needs help anyway?” He shouted after the girls, Stitches, Grim and Rocky following close behind with more boxes and bags. Pointedly leaving the two men alone to talk.

Bull chuckled, waving his head fondly, then looking back at Dorian. “So? What’d you say? It’s up to you, big guy.”

Dorian stared, shoulders sagging, then smiled, an easy, soft upturn of his lips. If his lashes weren’t wet already, Bull would’ve sworn he was close to tears.

“I did say we’re very social creatures, didn’t I?” He said, eyes crinkling at the corners, and it was all it took. Bull smiled widely, baring his teeth as he let out a deep, relieved breath from deep within him, and both men surged forward at the same time, catching each other’s lips in a searing kiss. Almost like sealing the deal.

Not a moment later, the Chargers leaped from the doorframe, whooping and clapping and cheering, and even Krem and Grim were smiling fondly and whistling at the sappy scene. They parted, laughing with embarrassment, but after a brief exchange of glances a mischievous grin curled on Bull’s lips, and swiftly he picked Dorian up and up and up, until he was standing and the merman was completely out of the water, the end of his tail lying flat on the floor by Bull’s feet. Dorian yelped at first, arms snaking around the man’s wide shoulders for support, but Bull just hugged him tighter, holding him close and firm against his body, smiling up at Dorian as the ruckus behind them both became louder and rowdier.

Dorian’s life would certainly be a lot less boring from that moment on, and the thought had him laughing, tears prickling the corner of his eyes as they touched foreheads and smiled at each other, the moment between them easy and light and absolutely perfect. _Yes_ , he thought, brimming with pure, pure joy, and kissing Bull again. _I could very much live like this_.


End file.
